


For Want of Love

by moosesal



Category: Wilby Wonderful (2004)
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-12
Updated: 2006-08-12
Packaged: 2017-10-26 08:45:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/281023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moosesal/pseuds/moosesal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Originally published in my livejournal for the midsummer2006 challenge (aka the 6 Degrees of Due South Ficathon). Written for "mondeschein1" and posted 8/12/2006.</p><p>Summary: Emily deals with the aftermath of ending things with Taylor.</p><p>Author's Note: For people who've seen the film but might not remember all the characters: Emily is the teenage girl in the movie; Taylor is the boyfriend she went to the motel with; Duck is the guy (played by Callum Keith Rennie) who helped Emily get rid of Taylor.</p>
    </blockquote>





	For Want of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published in my livejournal for the midsummer2006 challenge (aka the 6 Degrees of Due South Ficathon). Written for "mondeschein1" and posted 8/12/2006.
> 
> Summary: Emily deals with the aftermath of ending things with Taylor.
> 
> Author's Note: For people who've seen the film but might not remember all the characters: Emily is the teenage girl in the movie; Taylor is the boyfriend she went to the motel with; Duck is the guy (played by Callum Keith Rennie) who helped Emily get rid of Taylor.

She couldn't believe it, but there she was face to face with Taylor in her mom's diner. Emily had to stop for the millionth time that week to wonder what she'd been thinking in the first place. Taylor was an idiot. And an arsehole.

"I want the jeans back," he said.

"Huh?" Was she really hearing him correctly?

"The jeans? And the top? The ones I bought you at the mall?" Emily wanted to smack the "Duh" expression off his face. "I want them back. They were expensive."

"I already wore them. And I took the tags off." She tipped her head slightly as she studied him, trying to figure out if he was for real.

Taylor leaned over the counter trying to look menacing. It was almost working. "I don't fucking care. I bought them for you and you fucked me -- or didn't fuck me, actually -- and now I want my shit back."

Emily looked down -- between the counter height and her apron he couldn't see that she was currently wearing said jeans. She liked them. Taylor might be an arsehole, but he had been right about one thing: the jeans made her ass look great.

"No," she said.

"What?" Now it was his turn to be confused and pissed off. "Fuck that. Give 'em back, Em."

"No." She felt herself standing taller, pulling confidence from her anger.

"Dammit," he growled. "Give. Them. Back."

She smirked at him, that same twisted half smile she'd used with her mother just a week earlier. "Make me." As soon as she said it, she knew it was a mistake, but by then it was too late. The challenge was issued and Taylor was coming over the counter.

And then he wasn't.

With her back pressed against the coffee maker, Emily looked up to see Duck McDonald holding Taylor by his collar. He hauled him off the counter and toward the door. He stopped and gave a soft smile to Emily as he reached for the doorknob. "You okay?" he asked.

Her nod was so slight she wasn't sure if he even saw it.

"Apologize," he commanded as he gave Taylor a shake. "Apologize to the young lady."

"Fuck you. Let me go!"

Duck sighed and looked somewhat apologetic as he shoved Taylor through the door and up against the wall out front.

Emily couldn't hear everything, but the thud against the outside wall was clear enough. So were the occasional  _Fuck yous_  coming from Taylor.

A few minutes later she watched Taylor sulk past the front window and then Duck slipped back inside. "You sure you're all right?"

She nodded again, a little more certain this time.

Duck gave her that same piercing gaze she'd seen in his truck just a week earlier. She thought he probably didn't believe her, but he was nice enough not to say anything. "Then I'll take two large coffees to go, please."

She smiled, knowing one was for Dan, and Duck blushed slightly, knowing that she knew.

"No charge. Thanks for ..." she trailed off unsure how exactly to say what she felt.

He winked and took the cups from her and set off to meet Dan.

Emily looked over to find Irene, the town gossip, staring at her from the table by the front window. "Can I get you something, Irene?"

Irene returned her gaze to the view outside and muttered, "No. Thank you."

Emily wondered how long it would be before everyone knew what had just happened. Then she realized she didn't care.

*

Emily had to wonder how it was that Duck seemed to know her so well. Ever since that night at the motel she would find herself wishing that things had worked out between him and her mom -- there was no doubt something had happened between them back in high school. He'd certainly make a better dad than any of the guys her mom had slept with over the years. Sandra seemed to go from arsehole to married arsehole to yet another arsehole in an endless cycle.

But Duck? Duck was different. Not because he was gay -- although that was the obvious obstacle to anything happening with her mother -- but because he was  _nice._  He was kind and caring and had real thoughts about life and stuff. Emily had been surprised by his response that night when she'd said her mom wanted to leave Wilby:  _She wants to love and be loved. Just like all of us._

Emily wanted to be loved. And not the kind of love she got from her mom. She wanted the love of a father and she wanted the love of a boy. She thought she'd found love with Taylor, but she'd been mistaken.

As she'd sat in Duck's truck that night thinking about his words, she remembered her own words from earlier that same night:  _Some things are about love, but you wouldn't understand that._  She couldn't believe she'd said that. It was wrong and cruel, but thinking about her mom's relationships it had seemed true.

Now, after everything with Taylor, she wondered if her mom had been in love with all those men. Had she thought she was in love? Had those men told her they loved her? Was that what she had to look forward to in life? She didn't want to be her mother, but her mother was the most amazing woman in her life. And if she didn't end up like her mother, then who would she be like? Irene? Mackenzie's mom? Emily shuddered at the thought, unsure who was worse.

She thought back to Duck and Dan and wondered if she'd have to wait as long as they did to find real love, to find someone who got that glint in his eye at the mention of her name. Someone who could be patient and wait for her. Taylor certainly hadn't been patient. He'd been pushy, pressuring her into things she wasn't ready for, things she didn't want. He didn't love her, no matter what he said. Even if it took years, Emily thought it would be worth it to find what Duck had. Someone different. Someone wonderful. Someone who brought a smile to her face, a sparkle to her eyes.

She fell asleep imagining the way her heart would swell, the way her body would respond. It wouldn't be with the reluctance she'd felt with Taylor. There would be no need for coercion. If it was right, she'd want it without reservation. She would wait as long as she had to, but she hoped she wouldn't have to wait long.

*

Emily picked up the phone on the third ring. "Hello?"

 _"Tell him to stop calling me."_

"Mackenzie?"

 _"Duh."_  Emily could almost hear her friend rolling her eyes.  _"Your idiot boyfriend--"_

"He's not my boyfriend." She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. This wasn't a conversation she wanted to be having.

 _"Whatever._  Taylor  _keeps calling my house telling me to talk to you. So I'm talking to you._

"There's nothing to talk about."

 _"Yeah, whatever. Get back together or not, I don't fucking care. Just tell him to stop calling me."_

"Sure."

Click. 

"Uh, yeah," Emily said to herself. "Nice talking to you, too." She thought maybe the answer to her problem was to hook Taylor up with Mackenzie. They were perfect for each other. Perfectly rude and obnoxious. Plus he could drive her places, because there was no way Mackenzie was going to pass physics and get her car back.

  
*

There was a knock at the door. When Emily looked through the peephole and saw Taylor standing there she hesitated for a moment. Should she open the door and let him in? Maybe just pretend to not be home instead? 

"I know you're in there," he shouted. "Open the door, Emily."

She put the chain on and opened the door the few inches that the chain allowed. Taylor leaned against the door frame, his face right at the opening. He eyed her up and down; his expression softened like it always did before he leaned in to kiss her. "Look," he said. "Why don't we try again?"

Had Taylor been possessed? "What?"

"I think we should try again. I love you, babe." He had that gentle but pushy tone he always used with her. It wasn't working anymore.

Emily shifted her weight from one foot to the other, rolling to the outside edge of her sneakers. She looked down at the floor then at the wall next to the door. Finally she took a deep breath and looked up at him. "No you don't. You don't love me."

"Yeah, baby. I do." He reached through the door and touched her cheek. "You're so beautiful."

She said nothing as she stepped back, letting his hand fall away. Had he forgotten what happened at the motel? Had he forgotten his actions at the diner? 

"Em?"

"No, Taylor. Just ..." her voice fell to a whisper. "No."

"You don't want to do this." While she'd grown quiet, he got louder -- angry and aggressive. "What are people at school going to think?"

She thought about that for a moment. Thought about what she wanted. Thought about what people would think. Nothing with Taylor had ever really been what she wanted. She'd thought she loved him and because of that she'd done what  _he_  had wanted. She'd let him lead her, persuade her. But now? She didn't want any more of that.

"No," she finally said as she pushed the door closed, forcing him to step back.

"Fuck you, Emily!" he shouted as he hit the door. "Fuck you!"

She walked to the sofa and sat down. Alone. And she thought she just might be okay with that.


End file.
